Glacius Frostmaw's Arc

Chapter 4 of 14

By dusk on the second day, Glacius and Skara crouched behind a ridge of packed snow. Below them stood the glacier fort, walls of blue ice and cracked stone, sharp spikes rising from every tower. Their brother was inside. The seal would close by morning. Glacius saw the great front gate and started forward. Skara caught his arm. "Wait. You don't know what's in there." "I have the sword," Glacius said. "I'll cut a path." "To what? A dead end? A guard post? You charge in blind, our brother dies." She pointed at the walls. "Guards on every level. One door. We need to see inside first." Glacius stopped. She was right. He had broken a mountain by rushing. He would not break his brother the same way. "Then we find eyes," he said. Skara pressed two fingers to her lips and gave a low whistle. Snow shifted behind them. A giant elk stepped from the trees, white fur thick, antlers dusted with frost. It lowered its head to her hand. "He grazes these slopes," Skara said. "He knows the ways the warlord's men use." She had lived three winters below this ridge. She knew its animals and its paths. Glacius watched the elk paw the snow. It walked to the fort's east wall and stopped at a low drift. Beneath the drift ran a narrow channel, worn by melt, wide enough for a body. It slipped under the ice wall and out of sight. "A drain," Skara said. "It runs under the wall." They followed it on their bellies. The channel opened into a hollow beneath the fort, a space of frozen pipes and dripping stone. From there Glacius saw the whole inside. Stairs climbed each level. Guards stood at three landings. At the top, a single cell glowed with pale sealing light. A tall young orc sat behind the bars, head down. "Throk," Skara breathed. Glacius counted the guards. He marked the stairs, the blind corners, the one lit window near the cell. Now he had the map. He knew where his brother was and every step between. Then a guard above them stopped. He tilted his head. He had heard the drip of water change. He leaned over the rail and looked down into the hollow. His eyes found them. "Intruders!" he roared. A horn sounded. Boots hammered the stairs. The sealing light at the top flared brighter, faster, as if the alarm hurried it. Glacius drew the sword. The dragon head woke blue on the hilt. "We know the way now," he said. "We climb. Fast." Skara set her spear. "They know we're here." "Good," Glacius said. "Let them come down. We go up." He went first, up the stairs, toward the cell and the closing seal, no longer blind. The fort was no longer a mystery. It was a race.